OSCE Secretary General meets with Central Asian Youth Network alumni

Five participants from the Central Asian Youth Network (CAYN) met with OSCE Secretary General Thomas Greminger in Vienna on 30 August 2017 and discussed security issues in Central Asia, the OSCE’s work and its comprehensive approach to security.

The group attended a session of the OSCE Permanent Council and learnt about the work of various units of the OSCE Secretariat, including the Conflict Prevention Centre, the Communication and Media Relations Section, the Transnational Threats Department, the Office of the Co-ordinator of Economic and Environmental Activities, and the Office for the Special Representative and Co-ordinator for Combating Trafficking in Human Beings. They were also familiarized with the work of the OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media.

The group members will meet representatives of the OSCE Chairmanship and the delegations of the Russian Federation, the United States and their respective home countries.

OSCE Chairmanship Special Representative on Youth and Security Anna-Katharina Deininger, who attended the CAYN seminar in 2015, will discuss her role in promoting the role of youth in addressing the complex challenges to security in the OSCE area.

The group will participate in a meeting of the OSCE Group of Friends of Youth and Security, where they will speak about their engagement in CAYN and share their views on how the CAYN model can be applied in other regions.

The CAYN alumni from Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan were selected to visit Vienna based on their outstanding contribution to the 2017 CAYN seminar, which was held in June. This year’s seminar focused on the theme “The Energy of Youth” and involved some 45 students and CAYN alumni from the wider Central Asian region. The event concluded with a visit to the site of Expo 2017 in Astana.

The visit was organized by the OSCE Programme Office in Astana with financial and logistical support from other OSCE field operations in Central Asia and the Conflict Prevention Centre.

The Central Asian Youth Network was launched in 2004 to enhance promising students' knowledge and understanding of contemporary security threats as well as of the OSCE's role in addressing them.